For Reasons Unknown
by vivid dreamer
Summary: After the Last Crusade, Indy meets a woman from his childhood who has the possibility to change his life in new and undiscovered ways. This is their story.


**For Reasons Unknown**

Vividdreamer

Summary: After the Last Crusade, Indy meets a woman from his childhood who has the possibility to change his life in new and undiscovered ways. This is their story.

Rating: M

Author Notes: Okay so I have been imagining this story for years and now I've finally decided to put it up! Love this idea! Please review; it means a lot to me.

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Chapter 1: Childhood Friend

The sun was setting giving the desert its last soft glow before it would be shrouded in darkness and a bitter cold. The desert looked like a gold cloth laid before them in mounds, shimmering in the sun's last generous light. Three figures are seen on the magnificent, gleaming, strong backs of their three horses. One is tall and strong in a cowboy looking hat, the other is a small older man and the last is a tall round man with a booming voice. They are moving their horses out of sync in a playful manner as if they are playing a game of tag. Often they stop and let the old man catch up; he seems quite alienated from this type of vivacity.

"Junior!!! Junior!!" bellowed the old academic as his horse leapt into a gallop quickly passing the others by. "By, God! How on Earth do you stop it?"

The tall, strong man in the cowboy hat lunged forward on his horse to stop the elderly man from getting away from them in their journey back to town. "Don't overdo it, Dad."

"Junior, did it look like I was trying to _overdo it_. It merely went a little faster than I was used to and I didn't know how to stop it. I am not such a reckless person so I am unaccustomed to this type of travel."

"Alright, Dad," said the man with a huff.

"Indy, is Dr. Jones alright? He was going awfully fast?" said the tall round man with the booming voice while handing Indy back his hat.

"Of course, Sallah. He just keeps getting flustered. We should be back in town by tomorrow afternoon."

"Ah, if we keep going we might get there by the morn. Indy, was Indiana really your dog's name?" he asked curiously.

"Sallah, don't you start on me. Let's just leave my name as it is, _Indiana Jones_," stated Indy with determination.

"Right. . . Ah, what a beautiful sunset. It reminds me of home."

"That it does, Sallah. It looks much like the desert around Cairo . . ." he trailed off. The far sunny side seemed to have caught his attention.

"What is it, Indy? Do you see something?"

"Yeah, a woman in the distance. Over there. "

"Only a man like you Indy could tell if there was a woman from this distance!" roared Sallah in laughter. So with a kick into the side of his horse they were off. Racing into the distance with Indy's father lagging behind them screaming, "Junior!! OOHHH, Juuunnniioooorrrr!!!!!!"

It took them no time at all to reach the woman who was sprawled out on the sand unconscious.

"By Allah, there really is a woman here." And a woman there was. She was looked tall and very slim perhaps unhealthily so. It might have been the setting sun but her long golden hair gleamed in the sunlight. Her face and skin was burnt a light tint of pink; it was obvious she was very pale and must have rarely saw sunlight. She was dressed in an earthy beige linen suit, her skirt was cut just below her knees and her chemise was a thin white color but there was a large gaping hole in it. This hole revealed a long red cut that had stopped bleeding hours ago but one would assume that she passed out from her loss of blood which seemed substantial.

"What is going on, Junior?" asked the old man as he caught up with the others. Indy and Sallah moved aside to allow him to see the injured woman. "By God, what happened to her I wonder!"

"Yeah, curious thing to see a woman like that here in the desert."

"Her injury looks serious, Indy. Let us wake her," said Sallah with a fatherly tone as he bent down and nudged her shoulder until she blinked her eyes slowly coming to. When her eyes opened they were bloodshot and were a quite shocking color of emerald green. "How are you feeling, my friend?"

"Feeling," trailed the woman looking quite disoriented. "Uh . . . I'm not sure," she said finally her hand slowly touching her head as if she had a headache. "I'm always in pain . . ." Slowly she started to take in her surroundings, turning her head this way and that, her face was scrunched up with puzzlement. "Where are the Nazis?" she asked her companions.

"How do you know the Nazis were here?" asked Indy immediately suspicious of this woman.

"I've been with the Nazis . . . for years . . . as their slave . . . and archeologist . . . against my will." Still the woman was searching and looking around her as if she was utterly lost. As she looked around it was much different than it was before, there was bits and pieces of metal presumably from cars or vehicles of some sort but that was it, there were no people except her rescuers.

"Where are you from, my dear?" asked Dr. Jones Senior.

"The States. . . , originally. . . I grew up in California. . . but went to. . school in Illinois. . . It's been years . . . since I've been there. . . Almost . . . thirteen years. . . so long . . ."

"What is your name, my friend?" asked Sallah.

"Claire . . . ," she slowly responded. "Evans. . . Claire Evans."

She said it as if she was surprised by her own name; she seemed to be greatly impacted from her wound and could not speak but a few words at a time. She seemed dazed as if she was in a funny dream and didn't know what to expect. But as she said her name with quiet clarity-the two Dr. Jones were in shock-both of their eyes widened with surprise and started staring at her with a strange glare that was a mix between fear and shock.

"Sorry," she apologized, "but may I ask . . . who you . . . gentleman are? I'm . . . feeling very . . . confused . . . and disoriented . . . I just . . . don't know . . . anymore . . . what is going on."

"Of course. My name is Sallah and I am a digger from Cairo. And these-"said Sallah in a loud, friendly voice as he turned and was stunned into silence at the faces of his companions. Both Dr. Jones faces' looked like they were seeing a mummy or a zombie. "Are my friends," he concluded staring at them strangely. "My friend, "he whispered to Indy concerned, "what ever is the matter-you look like you've just seen a mummy."

"I know her," was all the suave archaeologist could come up with then as an afterthought he whispered, "She is supposed to be dead."

The woman still sitting in the sand looked up at the young archaeologist with a slight spark of recognition. She kept staring at his face while scrunching up hers deep in thought and concentration. "You . . ." she started, "You look . . . familiar. . . I had . . . a friend . . ." she said standing up slowly while wincing at the pain moving closer to Indy's face, "who had . . . eyes . . . like that . . ." She reached up and took off his hat and started inspecting it, "Its so . . . strange," she whispered, "this hat . . ." she trailed off looking at Indy earnestly as Indy looked at her still with fear and shock mingled in his eyes. "You're American . . . aren't you?"

While wide-eyed, Indy nodded his head, "Yes, Claire. I am. Do you know me?"

She stared at him with confusion, "I'm trying to . . . remember who you are." She whispered getting better at speaking with more fluency. "You're from my . . . past. Before . . . the university . . . and before. . .any schooling really. But I . . . can hardly let myself . . . believe that it's you . . . I've been dreaming . . . and thinking . . . of you the past 13 . . . years. Your face is . . . something I've never . . . forgot." She said swaying on the spot from loss of blood and then a fiery flash appeared in her eyes and she knew but only had the strength to say, "INDY" before she fell off balance into Indy's arms for only a moment before standing up once again thanks to Sallah's aid. Indy could only slightly smile at her response; she was the only woman from his past that would actually call him by his first name and not his last.

But then she started shaking her head in a funny manner and then she chuckled a little, surprising everyone there. But soon her chuckles turned into full blown laughter; confusing all of her rescuers. Why would she be laughing? But laughing she was and could not seem to stop. She was bend over, holding her stomach in a happy sort of way with her long blond hair covering all of her face and then the laughter slowed and came to a contented stop in which she jerked back her head and looked at the sky in wonder and whispered to herself, "I'm free! After 13 goddamn years-I'm free!" She said looking at them with glitter in her eyes, "You have no idea what that feels like," and then looking at the three of them and Indy in particular she added, "And to be freed by you of all people . . . life is just too ironic sometimes." Her voice had completely lost that cold, disoriented and trapped sound but now was warm, vibrant and confident-she could die right now and be happy knowing that she was free and would never have to life another day in terror of the Nazi's torment. It made life too . . . well she didn't know what to call this feeling of euphoria but surely there was a word somewhere or in some language to describe this sort of rapture!

Indy staring at her strangely but yet still slightly smiling at her woke her out of her reverie by gently putting his hand on her shoulder and saying, "Claire, I'm not sure if you're aware of this but you've lost a lot of blood. And you need to go to a hospital." He looked down at her long cut indicating the spot where treatment is needed. She slowly followed his eyes to the spot and started inspecting her cut. After a moment, she nodded her head as if knowing in a medical sense how bad off she was. She pulled out of her skirt pocket a little Swiss Army knife and started making a little tear in her fine linen skirt. Then with great strength started ripping it in one fluid motion, making the skirt significantly shorter. She then used that piece of linen to guard the cut from anymore dirt or sand by wrapping it around her middle underneath her chemise while saying, "Don't worry. It's not all that bad, I've had worse, but once a doctor looks at it I'll be fine. No need to be too anxious."

"Oh but it looks quite bad, my dear girl," inputted the elderly Dr. Jones, worriedly.

"Dr. Jones, I've been much sicker than this I assure you. In fact, you've seen both me and Indy sicker and in more grave danger than this cut. . . I guess then it wouldn't be asking too much for you to take me to a hospital? I have nothing in my own name anymore."

"Of course, my friend," interjected Sallah loudly, "We could not possibly leave you here, would we, Indy?"

"No of course not. Besides we have a lot of things to catch up on like what in the hell happened to you Claire?"

"Well perhaps one day we can discuss everything in detail but for right now, I'm kind of exhausted and just need to leave this place and start my life anew," she said while letting Indy guide her to his horse standing near them. Placing her up on the horse so that she was sitting sideways on it and then hopping on himself behind her.

"Let us go then," Indy said while wrapping his arms around Claire to reach for the reins and off they rode into the sunset and towards the town and hopefully a hospital. After a few moments of riding Indy asked, "May I at least hear of what happened to you-thirteen years ago?"

Claire's eyes widened and grimaced slightly pouting out her plump lips with a sigh, "Of course Indy. Well, it all started because I was on an archaeological dig, do you remember? We had just graduated and were looking for work and I had not yet found a position so my father offered me the dig as further experience. So I went along."

"Of course I remember-when you went missing I came to France to help look for you."

"That was sweet of you but not entirely surprising. Anyway, one night I was out late and Germany was just starting to control France but very subtly and they attacked me-I was just knocked out unconscious. I got the feeling they were following me. It was a well known fact that I was fresh talent and had been helping Dad since childhood-so they kidnapped me. When I woke up three days later, I was in Germany, locked in a small bedroom with maps, books, a desk, a closet and a large bed. And there they kept me for 13 years only allowing me to leave with several Nazi escorts to go to my digs or be a guest for famous Nazi generals. So I guess that's my story, Indy."

As she finished she looked up into his face searching for his hazel eyes to make contact with hers green ones. "Indy? What are you thinking?"

"Nothing in particular just that's all you did, for them?"

"Well, that's the basis of what I did, of course, there were . . . other things as well. But we'll discuss everything else later when I can finally get home to America."

"But what kind of other things? Claire, what did they make you do?" he asked with concern obvious in his voice.

"Indy, I would prefer to not discuss it here in the middle of the desert with your father and your friend behind us, if you get my drift," she said ending the conversation, "But it's over now so don't worry about the past. What is done is done. But. . . I have been a little curious of what you've been up to these long 13 years we've been apart. Do you mind sharing?"

With a chuckle at her coquettish ending, Indy dropped the subject for a more opportune moment. "No but where should I start-a whole hell of a lot has happened while you've been gone."

"I'm glad then we'll have lots to discuss. Start from the only place you should start Indy, the beginning. Firstly, searching for me, that you've already told me. What did you do next?"

He started explaining how he continued working with Dr. Ravenwood when he returned to the US and how he and Marion started seeing each other along with a multitude of things. But somewhere along the line, his voice, sarcasm and chuckles lulled her to sleep. After a little while he looked down to see her expression at his narration but saw only her eyes shut and peacefully sleeping against his chest. Her head was nested in the crook between his neck and his shoulder, her arms were limp and lying in her lap, her hair was cascading around her shoulder covering parts of her pale face.

Indy reached out with one of his hands to move her long golden locks out of her face. Despite the sand and dirt, her hair was soft and gently shining in the moonlight. Her hair was so long in reached her hip; the texture of her hair was the opposite of Indy's. Where Indy's was thick and slightly wavy, hers was fine and silky straight; just like running silk through one's fingers. Her face was hued pink from too much sun and he could see a couple freckles on her nose and cheeks. Her body was warm against his and Indy was amazed by a woman for the first time in a great many years.

Claire Evans had been his very first childhood friend because of their parents being intimate friends and colleagues. They had gone with their fathers on their digs and quickly became inseparable. They even went to the same school and became excellent study buddies. But that was it. There was a definite spark between the two but neither had ever pursued it beyond their well-built friendship. But everyone knew those feelings were there. When Claire had been reported missing, Indy left immediately even without Dr. Evans asking. He searched and searched. He felt like someone had removed a part of his soul, heart and brain. He was devastated. And since that moment in time, no woman had ever stayed in his life. But now, here she was.

He looked down at her again and firmly wrapped his arm around her waist bringing her even closer to him. Needing to have her with him, even if it was just for a moment. He understood his feelings for her and knew that they were more than just friendship and was nothing like a caring brother-sister relationship. But how to move on from here? They were both tattered and worn. She had been in so much trouble; and he always made too much trouble.


End file.
